Chapter 5 - Freezing Assets
By midday, the freeze was total.
Luke Vance sat on the concrete steps outside VanceTech headquarters, the cardboard box sitting between his designer loafers. Inside the box was a cheap gold-plated trophy from an incubator showcase, a framed photo of himself at the New York Stock Exchange, and an empty Montblanc pen.
Security had confiscated his company phone. His corporate Amex was cut in half before his eyes.
Across the street, three camera crews were broadcasting live. A swarm of reporters shouted questions at him from behind the barricades:
*“Luke! Is it true you embezzled from the private trust?”*
*“Mr. Vance, do you have a comment on the assault warrant issued by the Manhattan DA?”*
*“Where is Khloe Adams today, Luke?”*
Luke pulled his coat tight around himself, shivering despite the mild autumn sun. His cast throbbed with a persistent, sickening ache.
His mother, Barbara, pulled up in her Mercedes-Benz SUV, leaning across the passenger seat to push the door open. “Get in! Luke, get in right now!”
Luke grabbed the box, stumbled into the leather interior, and slammed the door.
“Where are we going?” Luke asked, his voice shaking. “Did you call our personal attorney? What about the offshore accounts in the Caymans?”
Barbara began to sob, gripping the steering wheel. “The attorney dropped us an hour ago! He said representing us against Arthur Sterling’s legal firm is professional suicide! And the Cayman account... Luke, that account was in your company’s name! It’s frozen under a federal injunction!”
“What?” Luke screamed, grabbing his head with his good hand. “How did they get an injunction that fast? It takes weeks!”
“She’s Arthur Sterling’s daughter!” Barbara shrieked back. “Judges play golf with her father on weekends! They own the firm that wrote the regulatory laws! Luke, they’re evicting us from Greenwich!”
Luke stared at her. “What are you talking about? The Greenwich mansion is my private property!”
“It was mortgaged through Sterling Commercial Capital!” Barbara wailed. “You took out a thirty-year private note with zero down payment because Samantha said she got you a preferred family discount! It wasn't a discount, Luke! It was a noose!”
Meanwhile, high above the city in the executive suite of Sterling Holdings, I stood in front of a floor-to-ceiling glass wall, watching the tiny black ant of Barbara Vance’s SUV speed away into Manhattan traffic.
Marcus Cole stepped into the office, carrying a leather dossier.
“It’s done,” Marcus said quietly. “Every bank account, every asset, every vehicle lease tied to Luke Vance and Barbara Vance has been flagged for repossession under the default judgments. By this evening, their credit scores will be zero. They won't be able to rent a studio apartment in Queens.”
“What about Khloe Adams?” I asked, turning around.
Marcus smiled darkly. “Miss Adams attempted to board a private charter to Dubai from Teterboro Airport at 10:00 AM. She had three Hermes bags packed with jewelry and half a million dollars in bearer bonds.”
“And?”
“Customs and Homeland Security detained her on the tarmac,” Marcus said. “It turns out Luke purchased those bonds using VanceTech’s operational research budget last month. That constitutes wire fraud and grand larceny. Miss Adams is currently sitting in a holding cell at Rikers Island, waiting for an arraignment she cannot afford bail for.”
I took a slow sip of my coffee.
Three years. For three years, I had tolerated Khloe’s passive-aggressive insults, her deliberate attempts to humiliate me at dinners, her whispers in Luke’s ear telling him that I was an anchor dragging him down.
She had wanted his wealth. Now she would share his cell.
“Samantha,” Marcus said gently, his tone shifting from ruthless lawyer to concerned family friend. “You did well today. But Luke Vance is a cornered dog. Cornered dogs don't think logically. They bite.”
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“Let him try,” I replied, looking down at the city below. “He bit me once when I had both hands tied behind my back. Now my hands are free.”
***
